BLECKLEY COUNTY, Ga. — On Monday, the Bleckley County NAACP publicly criticized Bleckley County Sheriff Kris Coody.
Coody is charged with sexual battery in Cobb County, and the NACCP says Gov. Brian Kemp should suspend him from his duties while those charges are pending.
We're taking a closer look at whether that could happen.
Georgia state law (15-16-26) covers that.
It says the governor can act when a sheriff faces criminal charges, is accused of some other misconduct in office or is unable to perform his duties in office.
If the governor chooses, he can appoint three people to review the case. Two of them should be other Georgia sheriffs, and the third should be the attorney general, Chris Carr.
They can investigate, hear from witnesses under oath, and then they report back with their findings.
The governor can suspend a sheriff for up to 90 days or – in extreme cases – ask the local district attorney to start the process of removing him.
That hasn't happened in the case of Kris Coody, who faces a single misdemeanor charge.
On Monday, the NAACP compared Coody's case to Richard Morgan, the Miller County Sheriff who was suspended last year.
According to reports, Morgan was accused of sexual battery while responding to a 911 call. He was also indicted on a charge of violating his oath of office, which is a felony.
We contacted Gov. Brian Kemp's office to ask why he's handled the cases differently.
We also wanted to ask about the NAACP claim that Coody is getting a break, because he and Kemp are friends.
"Out of respect for and to avoid any influencing of ongoing legal proceedings currently underway... We are unable to provide comment at this time," Kemp's spokesman Garrison Douglas told 13WMAZ by email.
The sexual-battery charge against Coody is still pending, and no trial date has been set.